TORONTO (AP) -- NHL labor negotiations will resume Wednesday, with mediators rejoining the talks
at an undisclosed location in an effort to save the hockey season. The Canadian Press, on Tuesday,
reported the restart of bargaining between the league and the union, citing unidentified people on both
sides of the lockout.

U.S. federal mediators Scot Beckenbaugh and John Sweeney are to return to the process... They took
part in sessions Nov. 27th, and 28th, before deciding they couldn't help... The Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service, based in Washington DC, also was involved during the lockout that had canceled
the 2004-05 NHL season, with Beckenbaugh attending sessions. And, as recently as last week, NHL
Commissioner Gary Bettman indicated he didn't think mediators would be able to help bridge the gap.

''We're not interested in mediation,'' he said Thursday. ''We went through it a week and a half ago. It was
of no value because of the position of the parties.'' Tuesday marked the 87th day of the current lockout...
Wednesday's session will be the first meeting since the sides blamed each other after talks had broken
off, last week.

Until then, they appeared to be making progress during three days in New York in which they exchanged
proposals. Union executive director Donald Fehr maintains there are general agreements on almost all
of the important issues. From the league's point-of-view, there are 3 main issues remaining: the length
of the collective bargaining agreement, rules governing term limits on contracts and the transition rules
to help teams get under the salary cap.

There are also 3 secondary issues (yet to be agreed on), including the continued participation of NHL
players in the Olympics, the international calendar, and drug-testing rules.

In all, more than 40 percent of the regular season that was originally scheduled to begin on October 11,
has been scratched. The NHL eliminated 16 more days from the regular-season schedule, on Monday,
canceling games through Dec. 30 in addition to the New Year's Day Winter Classic and All-Star Game,
which were already wiped out. The latest cancellations generally were regarded as both bad news and
good news.

While losing another two weeks hurts the league and the players, the fact that the NHL did not take more
games off of the schedule sparked speculation owners are holding out hope of making a deal that could
start the season in early January.

NEW YORK (AP) -------- It took nearly three weeks and a new contract offer to get the fighting sides
in hockey's latest labor dispute back to the bargaining table. While nothing concrete was announced
Sunday, the players' association indicated that the plan was for talks with the NHL to restart Monday
in the final hours of 2012.

The New Year's clock isn't the only thing ticking down these days. Both the league and the union are
quite aware that the window to reach a deal to save the season is rapidly closing... No one has said
exactly how much time remains. The belief is the NHL wants a season to start no later than Jan.19th.

That leaves a little less than two weeks to reach an agreement and stage one week of training camp
before the puck would drop on a 48-game season. The league and the union also had informational
discussions - by conference call and in meetings - with staff members that lasted much of Saturday,
and concluded Sunday. Those talks were spurred by the nearly 300-page contract proposal the NHL
presented to the union Thursday.

After the union huddled for internal discussions once those were over, the players' association said it
wouldn't meet with the NHL on Sunday night but figured to get together with the league on Monday...
''There will be no further face-to-face meetings today,'' the union said in a statement. ''The plan is for
the sides to meet tomorrow.''

Those would be the first negotiations since the sides met with a federal mediator Dec.13th. All games
through Jan. 14 have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule. The NHL
wants to reach a deal by Jan. 11 and open the season eight days later.